Woman killed, several injured in fiery crash on 118 Freeway in Porter Ranch
A large portion of the 118 Freeway in Porter Ranch was closed for several hours Friday morning after a fiery crash left one woman dead and several others injured.
The crash first occurred just before 11:45 p.m. on the westbound lanes of the 118 Freeway, just east of Reseda Boulevard, when a vehicle -- filled with a family of five -- careened off the road and into an embankment, before colliding with a fuel line.
This second impact caused the vehicle to catch fire, causing major damage to the vehicle.
Los Angeles Police Department SWAT officers who happened to be driving by at the time managed to rescue four of the occupants of the vehicle, though were unable to rescue the mother.
The mother, 31-year-old Zeomara Cohen, died at the scene.
All four of the other occupants were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment, three of which were believed to be children.
Upon investigation, California Highway Patrol officers were able to discern that the man operating the vehicle, the father, was impaired and was unable to negotiate the roadway, causing the crash.
He has since been arrested and booked on suspicion of DUI and manslaughter charges.
As a result of this first incident, a second collision involving three vehicles occurred just feet away while they began to slow down due to the vehicle engulfed by flames on the side of the road.
Two of the people involved in this second incident also sustained injuries considered to be moderate to major.
All lanes of the freeway were closed for several hours before reopening fully at about 4:30 a.m.
